


In Her Arms, The Multiverse

by DangersUntoldHardshipsUnnumbered



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: AU, Angst, Cuddling, F/F, Fluff, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Light Petting, Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-02
Updated: 2020-04-02
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:40:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23451082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DangersUntoldHardshipsUnnumbered/pseuds/DangersUntoldHardshipsUnnumbered
Summary: This was a thing that happened because I wanted a lot of cuddling.It's a bunch of little AUs of them in each other's arms for reasons, some very gay, some not as gay.
Relationships: Astra/Alex Danvers
Comments: 51
Kudos: 79





	1. NEW/OLD

##  NEW/

Alex burrowed herself deeper into Astra’s embrace, feeling her warmth surrounding her, strong arms holding her close, feeling Astra’s breath on the back of her neck. 

“I hope,” Astra murmured, “you wanted this as much as I did.” 

Alex smiled. It had been sudden, and yet not. They had been on the same side for nearly a year now. Astra had come over, left everything behind, and cleaved to what remained of her family; Kara, and Kara’s adopted family. Alex had, over that time, come to see the beauty and nobility in Astra, not to mention the muscled shoulders and perfectly cut thighs. 

She had thrilled inside when Astra pulled her close and kissed her. She had been dizzy with desire, drunk with excitement at the way Astra looked when she was being touched. They both still smelled of this first lovemaking. Alex was full of a sudden anxiety that Astra would not want to do it again. 

“I wanted it a lot,” she admitted. 

Astra made a little sound of approval and tightened her grip around Alex. One arm lay underneath Alex’s neck, the other encircling her waist, the hand resting against her sternum. Alex loved the idea that Astra could feel her heart beating. 

Alex’s heart felt like it was about to float away like a balloon. She felt Astra nuzzling her ear, the side of her neck, and gave a long, happy sigh. She doubted she’d be able to fall asleep though; the excitement of a new body in the bed beside her might well keep her awake. The feel of new skin, soft against hers, was the answer to a long-ignored craving. It would be hard to give up feeling it, even to fall asleep. Every little twitch of Astra’s fingers would send a shudder of delight through her.

“I did, as well,” Astra sighed after a moment. Alex felt Astra’s hand trace down her shoulder, her ribcage, pausing at the two little puckered bullet scars. “I am sorry for these.” 

Alex chuckled and wriggled her hips a little, trying to settle further in if it was possible. “You didn’t do those.” She took Astra’s hand and guided it to a white scar on her hip. “You did this one.” 

Astra took a sharp breath. “I…” 

“Hush,” Alex commanded sternly. “It was war. Things were different.” 

“I know.” Astra kissed Alex’s bare shoulder. “But I wish that we had not met that way.” 

Alex had the reckless thought that Astra might be in love with her, and that maybe she was falling in love too. Astra’s fingers brushed at the scar on her hip, and Alex felt a warm tear fall on her arm. 

Alex wiggled out of Astra’s grip and turned around. “Hey,” she whispered. “Don’t. You don’t have to feel bad about it. How could you know you were going to … feel this way about me?” She propped up on one elbow and stroked Astra’s cheek. Astra’s tenderness made a warmth well up in Alex’s chest. She nudged Astra onto her back and kissed her chest softly. 

“We’re both works in progress,” she said gently. “We both have made mistakes, we both have regrets. But we have each other now.” 

“So are you saying we can make our mistakes together?”

Alex smiled. “If you want.” 

Astra’s arms came tight around Alex again. She laid her head on Astra’s chest, and fell asleep. 

  
  
  


##  /OLD

Astra lounged on the couch while Alex finished adjusting the balance of herbs in the soup. It was smelling wonderful already, but soon it would be even better as the dill and sage became really fragrant as it cooked in. 

Alex cooked a limited number of things well, but chicken soup, from Eliza’s recipe, was one of them.

She sauntered into the living room, where Astra had her feet up on the coffee table and was reading “The Art of War,” a pencil tucked behind her ear. Alex snatched the book out of her hands. 

“I was reading that!” Astra protested. 

“I know.” Alex plopped into Astra’s lap, facing her, and playfully nipped at her nose. 

Astra made an annoyed face, but Alex knew that she not-so-secretly liked it when Alex climbed all over her like an annoying puppy. Astra’s hands gripped Alex’s waist, and looking very stern, Astra demanded, “Now what am I supposed to read?”

“Me,” Alex decided. 

“I’ve already read every inch of you,” Astra retorted, her eyes twinkling a bit. “Several times over.” 

Alex clasped a hand over her heart, pretending to look wounded. “You can’t already be tired of me!” 

Astra smiled and slid a hand up Alex’s ribcage, and palmed her breast, looking intently at her face. “Oh, no, my love, not at all. You are my favorite book. Always.” 

Satisfied with this, Alex kissed her. Astra’s other hand cupped her behind and squeezed a little. This might end in sex, but it might not. In truth, after ten years together, the intimacy of it was often enough. Just knowing that they were each other’s favorite book, knowing that they were allowed to leaf through each other’s pages and stroke each other’s spines and read the things that nobody else was allowed to read. 

“However,” Astra said after a moment of this, “perhaps I can hold you and read this book at the same time. I had gotten to a very interesting chapter.” 

Alex snorted, climbed off of Astra’s lap and pushed her shoulder, trying to tip her onto her side. Astra looked dubious. “What are you doing?” 

“Lay down, General,” Alex replied. 

Astra laid down. Alex retrieved Astra’s book off of the coffee table where she’d tossed it, handed it to Astra, and then laid down on top of her, head resting on her belly. “You expect me to read this way?” 

Alex lifted her head and looked up. “Why not? The soup needs 30 minutes.” 

Astra opened the book. “You are clearly in need of attention.” 

“Duh,” Alex muttered into Astra’s stomach, and closed her eyes, enjoying the slow, deep rhythm of her breathing. A moment later, she felt Astra’s fingers digging through her hair. It was all she wanted in the world.


	2. JOY/GRIEF

##  JOY/

Alex woke up to the now-familiar feeling of kicking in her belly and the general feeling of being terribly, awfully full. She’d always known that the word pregnant literally meant “full,” but it was another matter entirely to have an entire person in there, a frankly enormous baby sitting on her bladder, occasionally dancing on it. 

She was on her side, a pillow underneath her pumpkin-sized belly, which was pressed up against Astra’s backside. Astra shifted onto her back and then rolled over to face Alex.

Alex frowned. “Sorry, did I wake you?” 

Astra gave her a sleepy chuckle. “Not exactly.”

“What do you mean?”

“She woke me.” Astra pointed to Alex’s belly. “She was kicking my ass.” 

Alex tried hard not to laugh, because if she laughed hard right now, she’d probably pee, but it was difficult not to. “I hope that’s not an indication of what we’re in for.” 

Astra smirked. “I remember Kara as a child,” Astra retorted. “I think we are in for far worse.” 

“Worse!” 

Astra nodded. “You are much more stubborn. She will be a headstrong, obstinate child. She will be, quite simply, a pain in the ass.” 

Alex smirked. “Or maybe she’ll be like you and be obsessive compulsive.” 

Astra kissed her softly. “You are demonstrating my point amply, Alex. Thank you.” 

Alex groaned. The little person inside her shifted again, and Alex decided that she did in fact have to go to the bathroom. She hobbled there on swollen feet, relieved herself (another term that somehow became more literal since she started carrying this child), and returned to bed. 

“Better?” Astra asked, with eyes closed. She was flat on her back now, arm out to the side. Alex awkwardly climbed into bed, arranging herself on her side with the pillow under her pumpkin belly like before, and her head on Astra’s chest. 

“Much better.” 

The quiet settled around them, nighttime that was nothing but the hum of the furnace and the crickets outside. 

“Do you think we'll be good parents?” Alex asked, feeling a momentary anxiousness creep in.

“We will be excellent,” Astra answered confidently. 

Alex knew Astra well enough to know that the confidence in her voice was for Alex’s benefit, so that she wouldn’t be scared. She knew Astra worried too, wanted to be good enough. Alex saw the baby books she was reading at a breakneck pace, the little notebook where she’d write down anything that seemed important, birthing videos, all of it… But Astra was Alex’s rock in this moment, and Alex decided to just let her be that. 

Astra’s arms came tight around Alex. She laid her head on Astra’s chest, and fell asleep. 

##  /GRIEF

Alex only wasn’t crying because she had cried so much already, she was wrung out. Her chest ached, and yet also felt hollow: a part of her had been torn out.

Astra’s arm was hooked around her ribcage, holding her up. Alex didn’t know how she was being so strong right now, and she said so. 

“It will be your turn later,” Astra said, and Alex could hear the choke in her voice. 

The unlikeliest of outcomes had torn Kara from them. Non had been responsible, and Astra and Alex had united to dispatch him. They had both been fired into the stars in sleek, rounded pods, amid solemnity and weeping. Though National City had mourned Supergirl en masse in a ceremony earlier that day with a crowd that filled the streets and banners with the crest of the House of El, the proper Kryptonian ritual was observed with family only. 

War had stolen something from everyone. 

“I want a drink,” Alex said wearily as Astra helped her lower herself onto the couch. 

“No, you do not,” Astra responded simply. 

“OK.” Alex wasn’t much in a mood to fight. She was just exhausted and hurting. 

Astra disappeared and came back with Alex’s bathrobe, and deposited it in her lap. She then turned her back so that Alex could slip out of her formal clothing and into the bathrobe. It hadn’t registered how restrictive the clothing was until she did so. “Thanks,” she said, her body breathing a sigh of relief. Then she looked at Astra, still in her jumpsuit, and wondered, “You can’t possibly be comfortable in that thing, can you?” 

Astra smiled faintly. “I am accustomed to it.” 

Alex shook her head. She got up and shuffled off to her bedroom, dug a pair of sweat shorts and a loose, beat-up tee shirt out of a drawer, and walked back out to the living room to find Astra seated on the couch in a ball, sobbing silently into her knees. She hurried over to Astra and flung an arm around her shoulders. “Hey, hey, it’s okay, I’m here.” 

Astra didn’t speak for a moment, simply shuddering violently and releasing the occasional awful hiccup. Finally, she stammered, “Apparently, it…” (hiccup) “...it is your turn.” 

Alex chuckled wanly, and held Astra tight, arms around her as best she could manage. She knew this grief, the pain of missing Kara, the brightest light either of them had ever known. Their anger and grief and brought them together, and now? They each were the only thing the other had to remind them of her. 

When her sobbing slowed, Alex pressed the ball of clothing into her hands. “Here. It’s better to be comfortable right now.” 

Astra looked bewildered for a moment, but blinked her wet, red eyes and nodded. Alex turned around while Astra slid out of her jumpsuit and into the shorts. Alex heard a contented sigh. “You are right, Alexandra. It is better.” 

Alex smiled. “Told you.” She patted the couch beside her. “Now, where were we?”

They leaned on each other. Alex put on the television, something she’d seen a million times and didn’t need to follow. They drifted in and out of sleep, clinging together like the last two cheerios in a bowl. It was better not to be alone now. It was better to be held. As the night wore on, they’d wake, sleep, cry, laugh, and sleep again. They became a tangle of limbs, comforting each other with the strength and realness of each other’s bodies. 

Alex had, at some point, the fleeting thought that she could make a habit of it.


	3. BELOW/ABOVE

##  BELOW/

Astra sat leaning back against the rock wall, her eyes barely open. Alex sat next to her, dozing intermittently.

“So,” Astra said for the umpteenth time, “we do not know if our beacon has reached them.” 

Alex’s head nodded forward. “We’ll know if and when the pile of rock starts getting cleared away.” They were hungry and thirsty and exhausted. They had been down here for days without sun. Though it completely stripped Astra of her powers, days of darkness had not done Alex any favors either. 

They were both too weak at this point to try any other ingenious plans. The improvised explosive they had rigged was not sufficient. The attempt to venture in further had led nowhere and almost gotten them lost. They’d finally resorted to building a makeshift beacon out of some equipment Alex had in her tactical pack. It could send a signal but not receive.

Of all the people she could have gotten stuck down here with, Alex began to think resentfully… but then she stopped. Astra had been smart, and right about more than a few things, and had been another strong back in a situation that had required it more than once. And yes, she was arrogant, but… Alex turned her head. “Astra, I…” 

“You do not like me,” Astra cut her off wearily. “Yes, I know. I do not like you either, Agent.”

Alex smirked. “Listen…” 

Astra shook her head. “But I do respect you.” 

It took some effort for Alex to raise her eyebrow. “Oh?” 

Astra turned her head and looked at her through half lidded eyes. “You are brave, intelligent, capable. You think strategically. It is not your fault you cannot move hundreds of tonnes of rock with your bare hands.” 

“Thanks, I think.” 

Another long quiet fell. Astra’s eyes closed. Alex’s did too. When she opened them again, unclear how long she’d been unconscious, she found Astra looking at her. 

“What?” 

Astra’s eyes closed for a moment, and then she pushed them open again. “This is… not the way I imagined dying.” 

Alex nodded as much as she could manage. “Battlefield in glory, right?” 

“Yes.” Astra’s eyes seemed a little wet in the dark. “And you?” 

The irony, Alex thought. “In someone’s arms,” she admitted. “I’m soft. What can I tell you?” 

Astra smiled faintly. After a moment, she said, “One of us can get our wish.” 

Alex was too foggy and confused to understand what Astra meant. 

Astra raised a hand, with great effort, and patted at her shoulder. “Here.” 

Alex slowly shifted over onto one side, and rested her head against Astra’s chest. She felt Astra stiffen for a moment before relaxing into this closeness, and then Alex felt two strong arms encircle her waist. She could hear the strong thud of Astra’s heartbeat so clearly. She had the fleeting thought that she wished anyone had held her with as much conviction as Astra was holding her now. They may have misjudged each other, may have met the wrong way, she mused...

They drifted off for a little while again. Alex was almost surprised to wake up again, as if that last time was going to be the end. But she woke, head still resting against Astra’s chest, and felt vibrations in the rock that sounded and felt like a bulldozer on the other side of the pile of rock. 

Astra stirred against her. “They are here,” she whispered in a parched voice. 

Alex wasn’t sure if Astra was suggesting that they didn’t need to remain like this, but she felt as if she couldn’t move if she wanted to. “Mmm.” 

Astra’s arms became tighter around Alex. She laid her head back on Astra’s chest, and fell unconscious again.    
  
  


##  /ABOVE

“So, I think you promised me something?” Alex asked, hooking her arms around Astra’s neck. 

Astra glanced up at the moon, just beginning to rise above the water. “I did.” 

Astra indulged in a very long, deep kiss, with one arm around Alex’s waist, and the other cupping her jaw with a gentle but authoritative touch. Alex felt her whole body soften and go loose for a moment, the way it did when Astra really got it in her mind to kiss Alex in that possessive, probing way. She pulled back and inspected Alex’s face. 

“You want sex now,” she observed, smirking. 

Alex pressed herself against Astra’s powerful frame and sighed, “Yeah, I do. But I can wait. Quit stalling.” 

“I am not stalling,” Astra said primly, and she wrapped both arms around Alex’s waist and drew her tightly against her chest. “Hold on,” she whispered in Alex’s ear. 

Alex wrapped her legs around Astra’s waist and hung onto her, clinging like a little monkey, and Astra slowly lifted them both into the air. As Alex’s terrace grew smaller, she could feel her heart leaping, feel the little thrill of the ground falling away beneath them, and the wonder of being held in the air on nothing but the wonder of Astra’s body. 

The neighborhood and then the city spread out, sparkling, teeming, and Alex felt the privilege of knowing a love that could pull her away from all that, bring her something special and rare. The moon, a sliver resting on its back, drew up into the vaulted sky and stars sighed to life, winking in approval. 

When they had gotten high enough, they could see the ocean, and Alex could, if she chose to, reach out and touch a low-hanging cloud. Astra, she knew, could still hear everything, but for Alex, it was a stunning quiet, resting here in between the ground and the atmosphere, a separate world that she could only feel in Astra’s arms. 

The height was a little frightening, because Alex had only ever been this high inside of an aircraft. Kara had taken her flying many times, but had declined to ever go quite this high. 

Astra slowly tilted onto her back, so that Alex was on top of her, straddling her. Gripping Astra’s shoulders, Alex sat up a little and looked down at Astra. 

“Are you still brave?” Astra asked her, a little mirth in her eyes. 

Alex nodded. “It’s peaceful up here. With you.” 

She leaned forward and laid herself on Astra’s body, wrapping arms and legs around her again. A few minutes ago, she had wanted sex, but now, it was enough to simply lie here on top of Astra, floating above the ocean, hovering in the quiet dark, surrounded by clouds dusted silver with moonlight. It was enough to lie here in trust, in a world apart, held close to the body of the woman she loved. 

Astra’s arms grew tighter around her. Alex laid her head on Astra’s chest. 


	4. WAR/PEACE

##  WAR/

The Kryptonite blade lay on the asphalt beside Astra where she bled. 

Alex knelt beside her, hunched over, clutching at her ribcage, where Astra had struck her with a shorter but no less deadly blade. She, too, was bleeding too quickly. 

Alex’s vision blurred with pain and blood loss, and her head felt light. But she managed to focus on Astra’s grief-stricken face. “Astra…” 

“Agent Danvers…” She lifted a hand and placed it on Alex’s arm. 

“It didn’t have to be this way.” The pain was a long, hot stitch down Alex’s side. 

Astra shook her head a little. “It could not have been otherwise.” 

“We’re leaving Kara alone,” Alex protested weakly. 

Astra’s eyes welled up a little. Her fingers curled in, gripping Alex’s arm. “I’m glad that if I was to be struck down, that it was to be you.” 

Astra, so full of strange, ancient ideas of noble warrior code. Alex’s heart broke to think of what she had taken from Kara. “I never wanted it to end like this.” 

Alex felt a moment of panic, a moment of bargaining with the various gods that she didn’t believe in, pleading with them to at least save one of them, stop the bleeding, make this nightmare go right side up. But she pulled her hand away from her side, and it was covered in red, and Alex knew enough biology to know that they were both fucked. 

Slowly, she collapsed, across Astra’s chest. “I wanted to know you,” she whispered. 

“You… do.” 

Alex reflected briefly that there was nothing quite so strangely intimate as taking someone’s life in battle. That what they reveal in battle is a measure of the most fundamental things about someone. And there was Astra, fearless, pragmatic, relentless, noble. And that deep in her heart, she was righteous. Every bit as righteous as Alex was. 

“We could have… fought side by side,” she gasped. 

She felt Astra shake a little, where a chuckle would be if she had more strength. “Next time,” she said. 

Alex had not the strength to ponder what it meant. She still hoped that J’onn or someone would swoop in with a medkit and make some miracle happen. She still bargained with various gods. 

But she was collapsed across Astra’s chest. Astra’s arms came around her, and Alex sighed a long breath out. They lay like that, bleeding together. Her eyes closed.

  
  
  
  


##  /PEACE

Alex lay curled around Astra, arm draped over her waist, hand gently cupping one of her breasts, enjoying the silky weight of it in her hand. 

“I love your body,” she muttered into Astra’s shoulder blade. 

Astra moaned a little. “Enough to have sex again?” 

Alex chuckled. “What’s wrong, eight times isn’t enough?” 

Astra stretched her leg out, inviting Alex’s touch. “It will do, I suppose.” 

Alex bit her shoulder. “I’m a little tired.” 

Astra rolled over. “This is no longer new, you and I,” she reflected. “I should not be so insatiable.” 

Alex leaned down and kissed Astra’s collarbone, nibbling across to her throat before answering. “Don’t change on my account. I love making you come, again, and again, and again.” She punctuated each word with a kiss. 

Astra nested her fingers in Alex’s hair. “You are wonderful at it.” 

Alex grinned. “Thank you. You’re not so bad yourself, you know.” She flipped herself on top of Astra, eyes glowing with amusement. “I love you, my star,” she whispered. 

“And I love you,  _ i zhgehv _ .”  _ My world.  _ Astra’s favorite endearment. “To think that we would not have this if things had gone another way…” She turned wistful for a moment. “It saddens me to even think of it.” 

“We were each in a script.” Alex kissed her. “We broke it.” 

Astra nodded. “Not content with the story that was set before us, we chose to write our own.” 

Alex kissed her again, with a heat that welled up in her heart and sex, and picked up her heartbeat a little. Astra gave a quiet laugh against Alex’s lips. 

“What’s so funny?” 

“Your body clearly wants to have sex again, I can hear and feel and smell it, but you are too tired.” 

“Hey, I am–” Alex yawned. “–not.” 

Astra shook her head. “You are a liar.” 

Alex smiled. In truth, every muscle in her body was tired and would be sore tomorrow. “Maybe.” 

Astra kissed her. “Lay right here, my love.” 

The city teemed outside, scrambling and striving and struggling, its strings of taillights sprawling out in all directions. The conversations, the traffic, the laughter and crying and music from the pubs on the corners and down the block. But here, between their bodies, there was quiet. There was peace. There was a feeling that at last, she had come home. 

And Astra’s arms came tight around her waist, and with her head on Astra’s chest, Alex slept.


End file.
